Sometime in the middle of the second week, Loki came up behind him, made a suspiciously loud sniffing noise, and said, "You reek."
"Don't know what you expect me to do about it," Bucky said, annoyed. Usually he could let Loki's bullshit roll over him, but that had gotten a lot harder ever since he'd broken his hand all to shit and fucked his arm up so badly they'd had to wrap it up and stick it in the cargo bay. "I think you'll survive a few more days of me."
By then they'd be in Wakanda, where Princess Shuri had another prototype waiting for him. If he liked it, he'd get to keep it. If he didn't, she'd fix up the old arm, maybe make a handful of small improvements in the process. It was all going to be fine, as long as they managed to get there before he got around to killing Loki. At this point, he wasn't even going to need hands to do it. Which wasn't even fair, since Loki had objectively been on his best behavior since Bucky had gotten himself hurt. Bucky hadn't known Loki had behavior that good. It was still incredibly, incredibly irritating.
"I'm quite certain I won't," Loki said. "You must bathe. I insist."
There was nothing to say to that that would make his point as well as waving his splint at Loki would, so that was what Bucky went with.
"I would be willing to assist you," Loki said, in the kind of long-suffering tone that was clearly intended to remind Bucky just how much Loki had been helping him get around for the last week. He hadn't even been an asshole about it, other than the expression he got on his face whenever Bucky asked him for something. The one that said he was stockpiling ammunition. Other than that, he'd just been doing what Bucky said he needed when Bucky said he needed it, no matter how awkward or personal it was.
Fuck. Bucky probably owed it to him. No, he definitely owed him. Especially since this was the first and only thing he'd asked for.
Well, he decided, at least this way maybe he wouldn't have to hear about how bad he smelled all the way back to Earth. And he'd get to feel clean. That wasn't nothing.
"Fine, if it'll get you off my back," he said.
*
Bucky lay submerged in hot water with his arm and plastic-wrapped hand dangling outside the tub. Muscles that had been aching for days were loosening up. Even his hand wasn't throbbing or itching, and it had been doing one or the other since he'd pulverized it. All his troubles seemed to be seeping into the water. Maybe they'd do him a favor and drain out of the tub with the water, instead of coming back to him. That would be nice.
Now that he was actually in the tub, Bucky was less annoyed at Loki than he'd been before. Actually, he was a little grateful. It was funny how he could be grateful for help when it was happening, but really fucking resent it both before and after.
He'd been lying there thinking about that for maybe five minutes when Loki came back with a sponge, a cup, and a chair.
"Didn't know you meant that kind of help," Bucky said.
"I said you needed to bathe, not merely soak," Loki retorted. He sat the chair down by the side of the tub, then sat in it, and set the other things on the side of the tub. "Sit up. I'll wash your hair first, so it will have begun drying by the time we're finished."
Bucky sat up, as directed.
"Tilt back your head."
About half of the hair hanging in his face followed the motion of his head. As for the half that didn't, Loki reached over and brushed it back to join the rest, his fingers glancing over Bucky's temples. It was enough to send a little shiver through him, same one he always got when he got touched by someone who wasn't trying to hurt him.
When he had all of Bucky's hair gathered into one hand, Loki picked up the cup and filled it, and dumped the water over his head. When his hair was wet all the way through, Loki put the cup down. Moments later, his hands were working the cold shampoo into Bucky's hair, massaging it into his scalp.
The shiver came back. It brought friends, so that every time one ended, another one started up. Then one of them must have brought its big brother along, because a shudder went through him, and Bucky groaned. Not just a little groan, the kind you could pretend was something else, like maybe you'd stubbed your toe, or banged your mangled hand against something by accident. More like the kind where anyone who heard it was going to assume you were in bed with someone. That was the right place for that kind of sound. Not in the bathtub, where your platonic friend was giving you a platonic scrubbing because if he didn't, no one else was gonna.
Meanwhile, Loki's fingers had paused against his scalp. Even those points of contact would probably have been enough to keep the shivers going, if Bucky hadn't been so mortified.
"Sorry," Bucky said.
"Don't be," Loki said. His fingers started moving again.
The shivers came back, but this time, Bucky was prepared. He had only groaned because he hadn't known it was something he needed to worry about. Now he did, so he could make sure it didn't happen again. The last thing he wanted to do was make Loki uncomfortable. Sure, maybe he'd insisted on helping because it was better than making gagging noises every time he got a whiff of Bucky for the next few days, but the fact was, he was still helping, not because he wanted to, but because there was no one else. The last thing Bucky wanted to do was take advantage of that, or take him for granted. Wasn't like either of them had what you'd call a whole lot of friend.
"Tilt farther back unless you desire to have soap in your eyes."
Then Loki rinsed Bucky's hair out, which was a different kind of torture. He kept tugging on it to access different spots, kept running his fingers through it to see how slippery it still was. Or at least Bucky assumed that was what he was looking for.
"Now, lean forward."
Bucky did. Loki flung Bucky's hair back over to his front, then picked up the sponge. He lathered Bucky's shoulders and back in a firm, gentle, slick touch that was really, really...
Good. But also bad. Because sometime in the middle of it, Bucky realized he should have spent a little less time worrying about groaning again, and a little more time telling himself not to get a hard-on. His dick was definitely starting to show interest, and it didn't feel like the kind of thing he was going to be able to stop from happening. Sometimes he could. If he caught it early enough. If it was only a little interested instead of a lot interested. If there was less momentum behind it than there was now. If it was being caused by something other than being sponge-bathed by a good-looking friend with, apparently, really talented fingers.
Loki put down the sponge, and rinse Bucky's back. This should have been a good time to take a moment and a deep breath, try to get a hold of himself. But then, for some reason, after he'd dumped a few cupfuls of water over Bucky's back, Loki stroked a finger from the base of Bucky's neck all the way down to his waist.
"My apologies," Loki said in a low voice, when Bucky made a sound, not quite another groan, he wasn't even sure what it was. "Now, lie back."
"...Not sure that's the best idea," Bucky said. He was half hard now instead of just interested. There were some suds in the water, but not anywhere near enough to hide what was going on down there.
"Don't be absurd," Loki said. "You're only halfway cleaned."
There wasn't really a lot Bucky could do about it, other than stand up and give Loki an eyeful. Then Loki would have two new additions to his arsenal instead of just the one.
"Okay," he said, and laid back in the water, covering and baring himself at the same time. "Sorry, buddy. Can't help it."
"Don't be," Loki said, and didn't say anything else, though he was sort of smirking. Of course he was.
"Tell me about this," he said, as he soaped up Bucky's chest, inclining his head at the hollow of Bucky's left shoulder. "Is it especially sensitive?"
"Uh," Bucky said, taking a second to figure out what he meant, that he was asking whether or not it would hurt Bucky to be washed there. For a second, something that was a whole lot bigger than his accidental hard-on swelled up in his chest. Then it was gone, and he just felt awkward and turned on, and turned on and awkward. "Not really. It's mostly just sort of numb."
"Good," Loki said, and ran the sponge over it. Even though Bucky couldn't feel it as much, just watching Loki do it made it clear that he was putting maybe half the pressure down that he had for Bucky's back or chest. Then he got the other shoulder, and Bucky was doing okay, maybe not going to embarrass himself more than he had already...
And then the sponge started to drift down. His dick, which had been half-slumped at attention, now stood all the way up.
"Sorry," Bucky said. "I, uh. God, I'm sorry."
"No need to be," Loki said, so sweetly that Bucky definitely would have noticed something was up if he hadn't been so embarrassed.
Loki finished washing his, more briskly now, bypassing his groin area, like he couldn't wait to get the rest over with. Bucky couldn't wait for him to be done either. As soon as Loki set the sponge to the side, Bucky sat up.
"Where do you believe you're going?" Loki asked, pressing his hand to the middle of Bucky's chest, just firmly enough to keep him from standing up. "We're not quite finished."
"Think I'll air dry. You can help me get dressed later." Maybe in an hour or two, his blue balls would be packed away again, and they'd be able to get it done without there being a chance Loki would get poked in the face for the crime of helping Bucky with his underwear.
"Mm." Loki's hand trailed down Bucky's stomach in a way that made his dick twitch and his balls go tight. "And you're quite certain there's nothing...else you need."
"Uh," Bucky said. Loki's hand glided further down, into the water. It brushed over his dick, past it, fondled his balls for a second, then came back up and wrapped around him. "Oh, shit. Uh. If you want to. Yeah."
"But do you want me to?" Loki asked, which was a stupid question since he was already doing it, running his hand up and down Bucky's dick in a way that was...amazing. Hand jobs were amazing. Apparently they were even better when you couldn't remember the last time you'd had one, and when that alone was a really good clue that you must not have had one this century. "I wouldn't want to offer you anything you don't desire."
"Uh, yeah," Bucky managed, having worked through this just enough to figure out it wasn't a rhetorical question. "If it doesn't bother--if you're into it, then, yeah. If you don't mind. Please."
Later, he'd figure it wasn't so much the magic word as the magic sentiment. Loki liked to feel needed. Maybe that was why he'd been so good about all this. Bucky didn't know. For now, all he did know was that Loki's hand gripped him more firmly, and started tugging on him in earnest.
"Don't tense up," Loki said, when Bucky started to. "Relax. Lie back down. Let it happen."
Apparently, Loki was as bossy during sex as he was everywhere else. All things considered, Bucky decided that was okay. Where he'd been bracing himself against orgasm before, now he sank back, enjoying the water all around him, the slick slide of Loki's hand around his dick, the growing excitement that was quick to turn into something inevitable. He lasted a little longer than he'd thought he would, but still not long at all. When he came, Loki worked him through it, and then sat back in his chair, looking pleased with himself.
By then, Bucky didn't have the energy to think about that, or the fact that he could now see the outline of Loki's dick against his leg, or the fact that Loki had possibly, probably, almost definitely planned this out in advance. He was too busy falling, the same way he fell when he'd had a big meal, or gotten up and tried to do more than he should have tried to do because not getting to do anything made him crazy. It was because he was healing, supposedly. Probably had something to do with the painkillers, too. This was how it went for most people who had hurt themselves and were knitting back together. Apparently it was also how it went for supersoldiers after they got hit with a blast of vulnerability magic during what should have been a run of the mill mission, and had to take weeks to heal up when they were used to taking hours.
"Do not fall asleep," Loki said. He reached between Bucky's legs again, this time with the sponge. "You'll prune. Or drown. I assure you I have no interest in sitting here for twelve or more hours to keep you from an unfortunate fate."
"Uh-huh," Bucky said, and managed to stay awake enough for Loki to finishing washing him, and then help him stand up. He even managed not to get in the way too much while Loki toweled him off, and to take one step of his own for every two or three of Loki's on the way to his bed.
As the light flicked off and he started to finish falling, he said, "Sorry I didn't get you back. I owe you one."
"Oh, I know you do," said Loki, like a smug bastard Bucky was definitely going to go back to being annoyed with as soon as he woke up. He stood there for a minute, then reached down to pull Bucky's wet hair out of his face, before slipping back out.